I'm just your everyday stay-at-home mom, approaching 40 way faster than I would like, trying to stop the madness that is my expanding waistline. And I. Love. Food. In the summer of 2011, I discovered Clean Eating while battling a rare food allergy. I lost 15 pounds that first year just by changing the way that I eat. This blog is just one of many resources I hope you will frequent if you love food as much as I do and are interested in eating better...healthier....cleaner!

Tosca Says...

"It is the food that we eat which is responsible for shaping such a vast array of body types. Yes, the food!" - Tosca Reno, Author of The Eat Clean Diet

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Treating or Cheating? And My Post-Holiday Hips.

Well, it's January and, as usual, my jeans are a leeeeeetle tighter than they were in November. This was my second holiday season as a Clean Eater and, well, let me just say that I still fall off the clean-eating wagon! I mean, how can I turn down my grandma's strawberry rhubarb pie (a classic favorite I look forward to ALL year long) or those Christmas cookies my daughter so beautifully decorated just for me? I can't disappoint them and make all that hard work for naught, right!Throughout the majority of my clean-eating journey I have done very well staying away from refined sugars, processed foods, white pastas, white flours etc etc and my tummy has thanked me! But this holiday season, little sporadic treats turned into bigger more regular cheats and, well, the snowball effect got the better of me.Despite my venture off the wagon, however, I will say that I did not gain back nearly as many pounds as I thought I would! (This, proven by the fact that my daughter still claims my hips still don't "jiggle" anymore.) So while I may have internally paid for my relatively minor indulgences, the scale still shows a marked weight loss from when I started eating clean over a year ago. And the people cheered "Hooray!!"I attribute this success to two things:

Besides the actual holiday eating binges we all find ourselves succumbing to on Thanksgiving and Christmas (and the yummy leftovers, therein) I did spend the majority of the holiday stuck to the main principles of not eating processed foods or the five evil whites (white sugar, white flour, white pasta, white rice, iodized salt. (See previous post here.)

Despite my tendency to overeat at holiday meals, I did a fairly good job at sticking to my clean-eating portion sizes (palm of your hand for proteins and less than the size of your fist for everything else. And we will just overlook the fact that there were about three times as many side items on my plate as there usually is. Hey, I stuck to the portion size!)

It's January 15th and I am still trying to wean myself off of all those naughty no-nos and back into a healthy mode of clean eating. It's not easy, but my tummy continues to remind me of why I started eating clean in the first place. But you're not here to hear about those fun details. So here are my thoughts on the difference between treating and cheating.Treating - Eating clean does not necessarily mean everything you eat is low fat or good for you. There are plenty of foods that can be considered "clean" that aren't nutritious by any means. But some goodies are clean as far as ingredients go, and those I consider "treats." Case in Point - One of my favorite treats are these: Justin's Organic Peanut Butter Cups. I get these at Whole Foods and you can find details here. Ingredients are all, technically speaking, clean (and organic, fair trade, and Rainforest Alliance Certified to boot!) But that doesn't mean they are any more nutritious than a greasy processed potato chip. One package (two cups) of these dark chocolate beauties will set you back 200 calories and 16 grams of fat! Yowzers! At the end of the day, though, I feel much better about eating these than I do a regular Reese's PB Cup so I count that as a WIN!Cheating - Everything else. Quite possibly, everything you used to eat. It's really as simple as that. All the processed junk you consumed before eating clean (or maybe still do from time to time) counts as a cheat. If you're eating clean to lose or maintain a certain weight, it's cheating that will slow or regress your weight loss progress the fastest. And I disagree with the phrase "anything in moderation." Portion sizes don't matter when what you're eating is toxic, and even the smallest of cheats can set your tummy on an anti-clean roller coaster that can last for days. Avoid cheating as much as possible. Your tummy (and your hips) will thank you!What percentage of your clean-eating lifestyle is treating? What percentage is cheating? What are your favorite treats?